Sunday, June 5, 2011

A Hot Time, with Guns; Minnesota Firearm Violence Strikes Again

As I continue to post these, just to raise awareness of firearms and violence, the number surprises me, and changes my awareness of how often in our communities someone misuses or abuses firearms, including those sometimes legally acquired. I am posting these because I hope the frequency of this gun violence, in a state reputed to be safer and more peaceful than most other states, will be a quiet epiphany. I hope it will sensitize readers to the same thing in your communities, your home state.

An apartment building on St. Paul's north side was the site of two crises on Saturday, one of them fatal.
A 34-year-old man died early in the day after he was found in his fire-engulfed apartment in the complex in the 1500 block of Woodbridge Street, said St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard....

(further down in the same article)

Later Saturday, police spokesman Andy Skoogman said it appears that the victim set the fire.
In an unrelated incident in the afternoon, police chased another man to the same building and cordoned it off until he surrendered to police at about 5 p.m., said police Cmdr. Kevin Casper.
Casper said the 25-year-old man's family called police about 2 p.m. and said he was suicidal and had a shotgun. While enroute, police were told that family members wrestled the gun away from the man, who threatened to kill them as he fled.
The man ran south on Rice Street. Police spotted him near Hoyt Avenue and chased him on foot to Woodbridge, where he ran inside the apartment building. He was spotted on the roof and a SWAT team was called to the scene.
The man was booked on possible terroristic threats charges, Casper said. No one was injured and the man's name hasn't been released, he said.jadams@startribune.com